Furygan say their Brevent 3W1 jacket is aimed at the “all weather, all terrains, all adventures market”. This sounded perfect for my recent trip to Spain and Portugal, where I planned to ride some of the Trans Euro Trail and routes from The Adventure Country Tracks.
The 3-W-1 part of the title translates as three-in-one. This means the Brevent has removable waterproof and thermal liners, so it can be a warm and dry three-layer jacket, a dry two-layer jacket or a breezy single-layer jacket.
This should have been the ideal option for my 2600-mile trip, which would take in many road miles and significant sections of dirt, with the likelihood of differing weather conditions.
Overall fit is good, with waist size adjusted by a velcro tab on each side, and a bottom hem that can be altered by a tab on each side of the jacket.
The sleeves each have three adjusters - a velcro fastener at the cuff, a velcro strap on the lower arm and a press stud adjuster on the upper arm.
The jacket has a two-way zip on each sleeve that opens a vent from the wrist to halfway up the upper arm; even with these zips open the sleeve fit remains good.
When the ventilation zips on the sleeves are closed the lower part of the sleeve is a tight fit. That’s fine for me, though people with larger forearms may find this uncomfortable. It may also be difficult to fit winter gloves inside the cuff.
The two front vents have a zip closure and two press studs, one of which works with the zip to keep the vent closed, while the second clips down in the open vent to form a triangular opening.
These vents are easy to open and close if you are not wearing the jacket, though if you are wearing the jacket these press studs are fiddle, particularly the one inside the vent.
I found myself pushing the open vent material into the opening and ignoring the press stud, an approach that worked well enough.
Photography: Joel Blevins
Exhaust vents are provided by two zipped openings that run down from the shoulder to the middle of the back. Overall, the ventilation from the jacket is good, but not outstanding.
The jacket is supplied with elbow and shoulder armour that meets the basic Level 1 of the CE standard, and back armour can be purchased separately to fit in the jacket.
The armour fits well and doesn’t move around. Add to this the Class AA overall CE rating and we have a jacket that is rated to provide good protection.
During my trip I found the jacket to be comfortable over a long day’s riding. It feels well made, using hard-wearing materials.
The jacket performed well in my time with it and was equally at home on both paved and unpaved roads.
The ventilation kept me cool on the hot days and the thermal liner gave me extra warmth on the colder days.
The waterproof liner reduced wind chill on cooler days and did well in some wet spells in Spain and Portugal, and on my way to Plymouth to catch the ferry.
Unfortunately it didn’t perform so well in torrential rain on my way home from Plymouth on the return journey and I was soaked to the skin.
The rain and spray on the M5 were exceptional, though water did get inside the waterproof liner and the waterproof pocket also let in water.
According to Furygan’s datasheet there six external pockets, which includes two ‘handwarmer’ sections behind the main pockets near the waist. There’s no way of securing these pockets and I wouldn’t store anything in there while riding.
A velcro tab on one of the two front pockets started to come loose, which was not a big issue, just an annoyance on a new jacket. These pockets are easy to get your hands into to let you rummage around for what you put inside.
The pocket on the left lower sleeve has a label calling it “fast opening”. It’s a zip pull that’s fixed at the end so you can open it with one finger. You still need two fingers to close it. It’s a handy place to hold toll tickets, credit card etc, although I felt it could do with being a little larger
There is also a pocket on the rear of the jacket, though it’s not as large as some and it has drain holes at the bottom, so that shows it’s not waterproof.
According to Furygan the jacket has three internal pockets. There is one in the main jacket with a zip closure, which is labelled as waterproof. The other two are both in the thermal liner, one of which is a very small pocket inside a bigger pocket.
If you are not using the thermal liner this leaves you with one internal pocket. Personally, I can’t see what use I would have for pockets in the thermal liner that have no closure facility.
Overall, I found the Brevent 3W1 (3-in-1) to be a comfortable, well-tailored jacket that can be adjusted for a personalised fit.
The build quality issue around the velcro tab on a pocket is a minor thing that I can overlook, but the way the water came through on a long, wet ride is a bigger issue.
The jacket proved capable of resisting reasonable amounts of rain, but wasn’t up to the job when it faced a very stiff test.